The Beauty of Diversity

Papua is a beautiful place. The nature, the people, the cultures, the languages, the traditions are great. No wonder so many people want to visit Papua. After they had visited Papua, they felt in love with Papua and then they decided to settle in Papua. There are many people, many tribes, many cultures, many religions, many traditions in Papua. From the westerner missionaries, Netherland colonialist, miners and traders from Java, Sumatera, Borneo, Sulawesi, Bali, Moluccas and many more.

MUSPAS III Obano

Muspas is Musyawarah Pastoral (Pastoral Deliberation) for Mee tribe and Moni tribe. The third Muspas was held in Obano village from Febuary 26 until March 4, 2011. 

There were about 3000 people of Mee tribe and Moni tribe came from Paniai Regency, Nabire Regency, Mimika Regency, Deyai Regency and Dogiyai Regency to have an annual Pastoral Delibration (Muspas) in Obano village.  

When He Has Gone...

Anton Pigome, a Papuan man from Obano village. He had a wife with 2 daughters and 1 sons. They lived in the same area with me and my boss. He worked as a cleaning service in Puskesmas Obano for 20 years. But Anton did more than just cleaning, he helped me to wrap the powder (pulveres) for kids, he planted many trees and vegetables in the garden. He was my translator, my neighbor, my friend. He was just like a family to me. He treated Grace, Victor and I warmly.

On the first day of our arrival in Obano, Anton served us some baked sweet potatoes. It was so nice. He also helped us to fix some parts of the house and made a small bridge on the back of our house. He fixed the water tank on our house. He put many small stones on our yard so we could step on those stones.

Serving The Mobile Clinic in Papua

Save Papua was the motto of Mobile Clinic in Papua. The program was aimed at accelerating health improvements by providing direct services to people from one village to another. The Mobile Clinic services were focused on mother and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The teams would move from one village to another to provide health services to the people in need, especially to people who live far away from public health service.

    

Life In Obano

Obano is a village with beautiful view and cool temperature. Grace, Victor and I worked in Puskesmas (public health service) Obano from Monday to Saturday. Our patients consisted of Papuan and outsiders. Some Papuan, especially old Papuan, didn’t speak Indonesian, so we had many translators to help us. There were many outsiders in Obano who came from Sulawesi, Moluccas, Java, Sumatra, etc. We also had home visit for some patients. For me, it was great to visit the natives’ and the outsiders’ houses, besides to treat the patients, we saw their lifestyle, culture and habits too. Our neighbors in Obano were very nice to us (maybe because we are doctors, LOL). Every time we visit the outsiders’ house, they always ask us to eat meals together with them. So if we visited the Sulawesi family house, then we would eat Sulawesi food. If we visited the Javanese family house, then we would eat Javanese food and so on. We just had to choose random house and we didn’t have to cook in our kitchen anyway.  You can see Sulawesi food in my picture. Wow… it was so good :D 

Lovely Obano

Before Grace and I went to Obano to start our duty, we went to the traditional market in Enarotali to shop our daily needs. We chose to shop in Enarotali because the price was cheaper than in Obano. We bought kerosene stove, plates, bowls, glasses, forks, spoons, knife, scissor, bucket, broom, a sack of rice (10 kg), a pack of egg, 5 liters vegetable oil, 5 liters kerosene, 1 kg sugar, 200 g salt, 1 pack of tea, 1 pack of milk, ¼ kg onion, ¼ kg shallot, ¼ kg garlic and ¼ kg chili. Gosh… I really started a new life in Papua. Hahahaha… 

Enarotali City in Paniai Regency

Awetako Enaa Agapida (Tomorrow Better Off  Than Today) that’s the motto of Paniai. I read that sentence in a poster near a Puskesmas (public health center) in Enarotali, Paniai. 

Paniai is a regency which is located in mountains area, about 1000-3000 meters above sea level and has surface area about 18.104,63 km. Paniai has a famous lake named Paniai Lake, originally known as Wissel Lake because it was found by the Dutch navy pilot Frits Julius Wissel on 31 December 1936. Ekari tribe, also known as Mee tribe is an original tribe from Paniai. Enarotali is the main city of Paniai Regency.

Yippieee... I come to Papua

After few years, I've decided to make my own blog. Actually my best buddy Timothy always suggest me to write a blog but I never listened to him. Finally, I get an idea to create my own blog. First of all, I want to write about my life and working experiences from April 2010 until March 2011 in Papua, Indonesia.

My penpals from Canada, Curt has suggested me to write a book about Papua but I can't make nice figures of speech or beautiful sentences,  so I decide to make a blog with simple English and hopefully people could understand. I was also inspired by a book that Curt has sent to me, "In Papua New Guinea" by Christina Dodwell.

Papua was a place that I wanted to visit since long time ago, even before I entered medical faculty.  A place that is full of adventure. To fulfill my dream, I decided to apply a job as a GP (General Physician) in Indonesian Health Department to work in Papua, Indonesia.  And yesss.... I got it. I will work in Paniai Regency in Papua Province for one year. I was so very happy and I celebrated it with my friend Marco. We ate so much pork in Mangga Besar at that moment. Hehehehe...